howeenterprise.com
Monday, May 28, 2018
Page #11
Howe High grad thought dead in WWII, but survived as POW James Gee Lost in Java Battle
A LETTER TO JIMMIE
From the Howe Messenger, March 20, 1942 Word was received late Monday of Texas. In the summer of 1940, night from the War Department he enlisted in the Marine Corps that James W. Gee, son of Mr. and and was stationed in San Diego Mrs. John Gee of Frisco, formerly for a time. Later he was assigned of Howe, was lost in the sinking of to sea duty on the Houston and the Cruiser Houston in the battle of was based at Manila. Java, February 28. James was born at Howe, August 27, 1921, and Immediate relatives are his father attended grammar and high school and mother; three sisters, Mrs. here, graduating in 1937, after Mildred McFarland and Miss which he attended a short while at Estelle Gee of Dallas and Miss the North Texas Teachers College Oleta Gee of Perin Field; one at Denton and then worked his way brother, Benny Gee of Frisco. through two years at the University
From the Howe Enterprise, April 16, 1964 - by Mame Roberts No, Jimmie, we shall never forget you.
We wanted to erect a memorial to you.
Then glorious came - you were alive - but a prisoner of war. You were those three and a half years in twenty-five prison camps from Java to Japan. Your body bore bayonet wounds. By a miracle, you survived and came home to start all over in We remember when you graduated rebuilding your life. from the Howe High School and then enrolled in The University of Again, you have done another good Texas. We remember when you job. You are now an executive with enlisted in the U.S. Marines. It was a big manufacturing company in James Gee - Lost in action on the Cruiser during World War II. Your ship Dallas. was the USS Houston, which was Houston - February 28, 1942 sent into the thick of combat in the We remember that you married the From the Howe Messenger, March 20, 1942 Pacific. beautiful Miss Shirley Tewell, daughter of a former Ambassador to To those who knew and loved day, seven days a week since the We shall never forget when the Mexico. You have a fine son. Jimmie, this brings closure to us outbreak of this war, and sending news came that the USS Houston the bitter realization that this is them to those fighting aggressors, had been sunk by a Japanese We are proud of you, Jimmie. indeed our war. there were, and are plenty of torpedo - "All men aboard were them to whip Hitler's Mussolini's, lost." Three and a half years went Jimmie is James Warren Gee, son of It is not only ours because of our and the illegitimate Son of by - we grieved for you as dead. Mrs. John Gee and the late Mr. John own future, and the future and Heaven's ears down, plenty of Gee, longtime residents of Howe. safety of those dependent upon us Russians and Chinamen alone, to are at stake, but it is ours because say nothing of the brave, dogged James Gee - In his words we have been in the middle for the determined Dutch and English From The Blue Bonnet, Volume 73, past 25 years are the cause of it. and soldiers of valiant little Issue 2, August, 2015 Yes, we are, God help us! Greece. Away back 25 years ago, when we were fighting a "war to end wars," and a war "to make the world safe for democracy", we made some tragic errors and blunders somewhere that have let this one come about. You did not bring it on, Jimmie. You only had to go forth in your splendid young manhood and die, because we who failed you before were born are too old to bare our breasts to a savage enemy.
You, personally, might not have been needed in Java to face a vastly superior armed foe, The little brown treacherous devils from Hell would never have attacked us if they had not known for a certainty that we were lacking in the only things that they respect - cold steel and hot lead.
But now you are gone, Jimmie and the tragedy of tragedies is that your loss will be reflected in We feel like baring our heads and tens of thousands of other apologizing to every fine young communities like ours. We make man we see in uniform. Can you this pledge to you and others who forgive us, Jimmie? We loved you have died that we might live like our own. We never had a son, - that we here and now reand always wanted one, and we dedicate ourselves, our resources, have loved to imagine that if we our influence, and everything that had a son, he would be just like we have or can command, toward you, Jimmie, long-legged, cleary- the winning of this war, and to eyed, smiling, kind, lovable. the consummation of a really just and lastiing peace this time, a May the pride of having borne peace where really peaceful such a son be of immeasurable people can live in freedom and comfort to your sorrowing parents! real security, and where the covetous and power maddened It might not have been necessary war glorifiers can never again for you to die, Jimmie, if even for organize and build up the power the past few years we had not had to pillage, rape and murder peaceour heads stuck in the sand, like loving people so that again, ostriches, determined in our minds unborn young men may have to that there could be no peril to us go forth a generation from now because we refused to see it. and die for wrongs in which they had no part. If we had been making planes, ships, and munitions 24 hours a - Mr. and Mrs. S.L. Ricketts
You were born here and grew up here. You attended Howe schools and Sunday School with other kids, You were such a little fellow with such a big smile: everybody was your friend.
After surviving the death railway, U.S.S. Houston Marine survivor James Gee was eventually transported to a POW coal mining camp near Nagasaki, Japan. “We were about 45 miles from Nagasaki (by train). We probably felt the bomb and heard the darn thing, but we didn’t know it because we heard a lot of explosions that we didn’t know what in the world they were. But we knew one thing: There were hardly any Japanese planes in the sky. We knew occasionally that American planes were in the area from the air raid sounds. We knew things were shaping up in our favor… After Hiroshima, they called us on the parade ground, and this is when we had our biggest run down through the city. This is when people were jeering at us because of the number of people that had been killed. But, anyway, Nagasaki was hit next,
and we were called onto the parade ground, and the Japanese in a formal ceremony told us what had happened and said that America and Japan were now friends and that they wanted to treat us the very best they could and that they were sorry for all the hardships that we’d suffered and all that. And in just fifteen minutes’ time, they switched from our major enemy to our best friend, and to seal this, to let us know they meant it, they turned over their rifles and ammunition to us, which we accepted without hesitation. We had a man who made an American flag and had carried it with him for quite a while, and we took the Stars and Stripes and replaced that rising sun with Old Glory. That was the end of our POW days…Of course, we were pretty stunned…That first day, we took our rifles and we walked out across the countryside looking for food.”
Step back in time with the 1963 Howe "Fire Boys" The recipe of the year 55 years ago in Howe consisted of: 1 1/2 cows (large) 1 rick of seasoned hardwood 1 doz. different spices, king size 20 lbs. potato chips 50 lbs. onions 100 lbs. cabbage 15 lbs. carrots
24 gal. beans 6 gal. pickles 4 gal. catsup 1 gal. salad dressing 10 loaves of bread 80 gal. of iced tea 94 man hours worked Properly prepared, it is called Fireman's Barbecue, serves 700.
According to Fred Holcomb in August of 1963, the "fire boys" that produced the "Eat-all-youwant, pay-if-you-like" raised $620.17. Wonder what an event like that would raise in 2018 for the Howe Volunteer "fire boys."
